


Paper Chain Hearts

by DLanaDHZ



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, M/M, Valentine's Day, season 4
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-14
Updated: 2018-02-14
Packaged: 2019-03-18 11:18:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,707
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13680618
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DLanaDHZ/pseuds/DLanaDHZ
Summary: Allura doesn't understand this Earth custom called Valentines, but she's determined to understand after she finds Lance stressing out about it. For his part, Lance was doing Just Fine about the whole deal until Keith decided to return for the occasion.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Valentine's Day 2018, everyone! Consider this my gift to you - to add to your many in-real-life ones or in place of the ones you may not have received. Love you all!
> 
> The second chapter will go up later today once my beta gets home and can approve it for public consumption. ^_^

The day seemed no different than the one before when Allura went to find Lance so she could scold him for skipping training. The paladin hadn’t missed a training session is several phoebs, so she was worried about him as much as she was upset with him. Perhaps he was ill? But when she came to his door, she found it unlocked, and when it slid open, she found him in perfect health.

 

“Lance, what are you doing?” she asked, confusion growing.

 

He was sitting on the floor beside his bed, surrounded by paper stuffs and random knickknacks that looked an awful lot like trash to her. He froze in his work as soon as the door slid open, scissors paused mid-cut. At her question, he quickly flushed red.

 

“I-It’s nothing! It’s just Valentine’s- I mean, you don’t even know what that means, right? So it’s nothing!” He scrambled to collect his trash into a pile and push it out of view, and Allura felt herself turning red too – only from anger rather than embarrassment.

 

“If it’s nothing, then why did you skip training to do it?” she asked, crossing her arms. Lance spluttered for an answer but she didn’t let him find one. “Never mind,” she said with a sigh and turned away. “I’m very disappointed in you, Lance.”

 

She walked away, the door sliding closed behind her, and frowned at the floor. Lance had seemed so dedicated lately, wanting to prove himself and bond with the others. Why now would he shirk his duties as a paladin?

 

“What is a Valentines?” she asked no one, stopping in the middle of the hall. Tapping her chin, she tried to remember any time a paladin might have mentioned such a thing, but no matter how hard she considered the past, she only came up with Lance flubbing it out just now.

 

Maybe she’d ask the other paladins about it. Perhaps she’d just scolded Lance for something that was important to Earthlings. If she had, she’d need to apologize properly.

\-- -- --

 

“Pidge, are you dreadfully busy at the moment?” Allura asked as soon as the door to the lab had started sliding away.

 

The green paladin was hard at work, tinkering away at a piece of machinery they’d picked up from their last battle. She no longer plugged enemy tech into the castle, thank goodness, but she still liked to play with it and learn as much as she could about it. It had proven very useful in the past, and Allura liked having someone capable of understanding enemy technology – at least in some small way – on her team.

 

“Not particularly,” Pidge said, although her tinkering looked very busy to Allura.

 

“Oh, alright then.” Allura stood a few feet away, clasping her hands behind her back. She was nervous about bringing up the Valentines. If it was a particularly personal item or event, she might be embarrassing Lance. Maybe it was a thing only the men of the species took use from? Darn it. She should have probably started with Hunk, then. He’d be the best at keeping Lance’s privacy, well, private.

 

“Did… you need something?” Pidge asked, pausing in her tinkering to turn and look at the silent princess. Her glasses had slid slightly down her nose, but Allura knew they were mostly for show and didn’t actually help her see. The princess smiled warmly. Pidge was a compassionate soul too. If a Valentines was something private, she wouldn’t blab.

 

“Yes, actually.” Allura unhooked her hands and knelt beside Pidge on the floor. “I was wondering if you could tell me what a Valentines is.”

 

To Allura’s surprise, Pidge rolled her eyes and turned back to her machine. “Oh is that all?” She scoffed. “Valentine’s Day is a human holiday that was commercialized beyond repair. Almost as bad as Christmas, actually. But instead of random presents, like Christmas, on Valentine’s Day you were basically brain washed into buying really expensive material gifts, like diamonds or other jewelry, and way too many flowers. Then you gave them to people you supposedly loved and hoped they liked the stuff enough to not leave you for another year.”

 

Well that left a bitter taste in Allura’s mouth. “That all sounds rather… cold,” she admitted. “If it’s something to do with love, shouldn’t it be warmer?”

 

“You’d think so. And I think it used to be, but these days all I saw for it was endless ads on television for rings and necklaces made from minerals we barely have on Earth anymore. There are no natural diamonds left, you see? So companies manufacture fakes and then charge way too much money for them.” She paused in her tinkering and leaned back on her hands, staring up at the windows and out into space. It was almost as if she could see a television there, or maybe she was seeing Earth. “I mean, the gesture can still be sweet, I guess. My father bought some manufactured diamond earrings for my mom sometime before I was born and she loves them. But, I dunno, I’ve always thought Valentine’s Day was kind of miss-able.”

 

“I see.” Allura nodded, though she didn’t really understand. “Thank you, Pidge. You’ve been most helpful.”

 

She stood then and glanced up at the stars where Pidge’s eyes had lost their focus. If Valentine’s Day was so cold and commercialized, then she didn’t understand how Lance was using it as an excuse to miss practice. And she didn’t understand what all the paper and trash in his room had to do with it. There was nothing like a diamond, or any gemstone, among the things she’d seen.

 

“It’s was Lance, wasn’t it?” Pidge asked when Allura was almost to the door. The small paladin spun around to face her. “He mentioned Valentine’s Day, didn’t he?”

 

“Yes,” Allura admitted. “How did you know?”

 

Pidge shrugged and leaned back again. “I made a calendar to see how long we’d been here, and figure out what day it was back on Earth. Lance was here when I got it working yesterday. He’s the only other one in the castle who knows that Valentine’s Day is tomorrow. Well, technically speaking, at least. It’s not an exact match-up.” She sighed slightly. “You should tell him not to put a lot of effort into it. It’s not like he’s gonna get anything in return.”

 

“I’ll-” Allura hesitated. She almost said ‘I’ll tell him’, but something in her didn’t like the idea. “I think I’ll leave him be, actually. I don’t think he can put much effort into it. After all, it’s not like we have any gemstones on board – real or manufactured.”

 

Except for the crystal that powered the ship, but Lance would never try to use that. For one, it was gigantic. For two, it would leave them stranded in space if he hurt the crystal, and Lance wasn’t stupid enough to do that.

 

Pidge shrugged again and returned her attention to the machine. Allura figured that was agreement, or as close as she’d get. The princess left her to her tweaking and analysis then. Pidge had made Valentine’s Day sound so mechanical. She’d used the phrase ‘brain wash’. Maybe that’s what distracted Lance so badly. He was still stuck under the spell of some commercial?

 

“Poor Lance,” she thought out loud as she walked.

 

There was a beep over the intercoms then and Coran’s excited voice drifted in. “Prepare for docking, everyone! We’ve got a guest coming aboard!”

 

Brow knitting together, Allura tried to remember authorizing a meeting with any of their contacts. Nothing came to mind. But Coran didn’t seem concerned. In fact, he seemed happy. Keeping her guard up anyway, Allura picked up her pace, jogging toward the docking bay.

 

Who could it be?

\-- -- --

 

The small ship that landed in their hanger was not Galran, but the person jumping out of it was – at least half way. Allura clapped her hands together when she saw Keith descending from his Marmora flight pod.

 

“You’re back!” she exclaimed with genuine joy. She and Keith had gone through a rough patch when his lineage was discovered, but she liked to think it made them stronger as friends now. A sudden thought had her frowning, though. “Is everything alright?” Keith didn’t seem agitated, but his appearance had to be for a reason, didn’t it?

 

As he reached ground level and began walking toward her, Keith just smiled. “Everything’s fine,” he assured. “I was told to meet up with you guys to compare new information. Plus, we’re still friends, right? I missed you all.”

 

“Of course we’re still friends!” Allura took his hand in hers when he got close enough. “It’s wonderful to have you back on board the castle. I can’t wait to tell the others.”

 

“Well I’ll lower your count by one,” Shiro said as he walked into the hanger. He stepped right up to Keith and clapped him on the shoulder. “Welcome back, Keith.”

 

“It’s great to be back.”

 

They embraced and Allura clasped her hands in front of her, smiling. Their friendship was wonderful, and she hoped nothing ever happened to truly come between them. If only all of the paladins were so amiable. Her thoughts immediately drifted to Lance, who flipped between annoying Keith and being his best friend. Why couldn’t he be more like Shiro? Well, he wouldn’t be Lance then, would he?

 

“Come on,” Shiro said, motioning to the door. “Let’s go find the others. We can debrief each other later.”

\-- -- -- --

 

They called everyone to the lounge, and the paladins assembled in quick order, interested in the surprise guest. Pidge smirked when she saw Keith and crossed her arms, and Keith looked a little embarrassed under her gaze. Before Allura could ask about it, though, Hunk flew across the room to lift Keith off his feet.

 

“Welcome back, buddy!” he crowed, squeezing Keith almost too tight. “How long are you staying?”

 

He lowered Keith back to stand on his feet as he asked, and Lance stepped into the room just in time to hear it. His hands were stuffed in his pockets, and there was some kind of glitter on the left sleeve of his jacket. What on Earth was he doing in his room? Paper? Junk? Glitter?

 

But he looked up, intrigued, at the sound of Hunk’s question.

 

“Uh, Kolivan doesn’t expect me back for a few days.” Keith smiled around the room, his eyes hesitating on Lance, still lingering near the doorway. “He says it’s important to keep our alliances strong.”

 

“Well you’re welcome as long as you want to stay,” Allura assured. Her eyes flickered between Keith, happy to have him back on board, and Lance, still worried about his disposition and his Valentines issue. The others converged around Keith, hugging and trying to catch each other up on time missed. Lance did too, but on the fringes, and Allura noticed.

 

Lance, usually so physical and excitable, was antsy and nervous. He clapped Keith on the back and laughed, but it was an anxious sound. Despite Pidge’s explanation of the holiday and her own insistence that Lance couldn’t be too invested in it, Allura wondered if Lance’s anxiety came from the sudden appearance of another person who needed a gift.

 

She wondered about this odd human holiday and its effect on Lance all through their debriefing with Keith. Charts were compared. Information was transferred. Not much had changed since their last talk, but it was still good to keep in touch.

 

She wondered about it when they made their way to dinner. Everything was almost normal, almost like Keith had never left. Lance sat next to him and they bumped each other and teased as easily as she’d ever seen. The anxiety had left Lance sometime during the briefing, it seemed. Although he seemed to laugh a little different, she couldn’t pinpoint why. Maybe Allura was over thinking things just because she didn’t understand the custom.

 

When they decided to retire for the night, they cleaned up together and then walked out as one, like a team again. Coran slid out to return to the bridge, claiming someone needed to be on duty and alert in case of sudden attack, but Allura suspected he’d been playing some kind of game that he’d had to put a hold on when Keith returned and was just eager to finish it, uninterrupted.

 

Following him, Lance was the second to book it out of dinner, reigniting Allura’s concern.

 

“I just gotta- I’m gonna hit the hay. I don’t know about you guys, but being a paladin has just WORN ME OUT today. You know what I’m sayin?” He laughed that off-laugh and then gave a curt wave. “Night!” Then he was gone.

 

“Ooookay,” Hunk said, his voice trailing after Lance like a kicked-up dust cloud. Then he pointed after his friend and turned to the others. “He seem tired to you guys? Cause he didn’t seem tired to me. At least, he didn’t run off like someone who was tired. He ran off like I do when I really gotta poop.” He gasped. “Do you think my food gave him indigestion?!”

 

Pidge snorted and shook her head. “Your food was fine. And Lance is fine too. He’s just being dumb. Don’t worry about it.” She reached up to pat Hunk on the arm reassuringly. “But even if he’s not – I _am_ tired, so I’ll see you guys tomorrow.”

 

She waved slightly as she left, and Hunk meandered that way after a minute too. “See you in the morning, Keith,” he said just before he turned the corner.

 

Hearing his name seemed to startle Keith and he snapped to attention, waving bye to Hunk a moment too late. It was then that Allura realized Keith had been staring down the hall where Lance had disappeared. His expression was tight, concerned, and she pressed her lips together, trying to discern why. His old rooms were down that way too. Maybe- She grinned.

 

“Don’t worry, Keith,” she said, laying a hand on his shoulder. “Your room is just as you left it.”

 

“Oh. Right.” He smiled at her. “Thanks, Allura.”

 

He stepped away from her then, moving slowly down the hall toward his room. Just before he left her sight, she noticed his face fall back into one of indecision and concern. Her own brow knit in confusion. What was wrong with her paladins today?

 

“Alright. I’m gonna head to the training room,” Shiro said, his hand up in a half-wave, half-salute. “I’ve still got a little energy in these old bones.” His tease made them both smile, and then he started in the opposite direction of the others.

 

Allura started to wave him off, but then she clenched her hand into a fist instead. “Hang on a moment, Shiro,” she called out to stop him. When he turned, she took a deep breath and relaxed her hands. “I’m concerned about the others – particularly Lance. I was wondering if maybe you could help me better understand one of your Earth customs. I think if I understood better, I’d know how to help him.”

 

Looking slightly wary, Shiro nodded. “O-Okay. What custom?” He crossed his arms, his metallic prosthetic glinting in the light.

 

“Pidge said it’s called Valentine’s Day,” Allura said, and Shiro jolted out of his nervous stance in shock. “I found Lance in his room earlier and he said something about a Valentines something. Pidge says it’s a holiday where you buy very expensive gems and give them to people you care about – but she makes it sound cold and mechanical. But Lance didn’t seem mechanical in his room. And I’m afraid I may be even more confused now than I was before.”

 

When she was finished, Shiro chuckled. His posture had relaxed significantly after hearing the start of her questioning, and that gave her some hope.

 

“I can see where Pidge is coming from. A lot of people back home treat holidays as a way to make money, and sometimes it can seem like people have lost sight of the real purpose of them, but Valentine’s Day isn’t cold.” He held his hands out like he was offering her something. “It’s about showing your love. People go out of their way to show those around them how much they care about them. Really it’s a couple’s holiday. You give a gift to the person you love most.”

 

“And it’s always a gemstone?” Allura asked, tilting her head to the side. “That sounds extravagant.”

 

“No, not always. A lot of people give flowers or chocolate. Cards can be exchanged. Some people like to make things from scratch to put real feeling into it.” Shiro placed his hands on his hips and smiled warmly. “How is Valentine’s Day affecting Lance, though? Is it soon?”

 

At this, Allura nodded knowingly. “Pidge says it’s tomorrow.”

 

“Tomorrow?” Shiro’s face fell into one of deep concentration. “I wish she’d have told the rest of us. We should do something special, even if we can’t exchange gifts. Is there a chance we could maybe dock somewhere and get something special to eat? Or maybe there’s a peaceful planet we could go to, just to relax for the day.”

 

“I’ll talk to Coran. We’ll figure something out.” Allura nodded again. “We’ll make it warm and loving. That way even Pidge can enjoy it.”

 

Shiro was smiling warmly at her again and it made her blush lightly. She didn’t wait for him to leave again. Instead she excused herself to find Coran. It would be last minute, but there had to be something they could do for this Valentine’s Day.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took so long. Beta was busy for a lot longer than I expected.

Normally, Lance’s nightly routine involved a face mask he made personally from ingredients as close to the ones he used to have on Earth as he could manage. There was toner involved and an antioxidant and in the morning he’d lotion himself up to perfect softness. He’d actually had a concealer stick in his jacket when they’d been kidnapped to space so he used that from time to time whenever he couldn’t get the right amount of sleep. It was running scarily low these days, so he was always on the lookout for something similar. So far, he’d found nothing.

 

But this was not a normal night. He’d ditched hanging out with everyone after dinner and rushed back to his room. After Pidge had told him that Valentine’s Day was in two days, he’d been determined to make a gift for everyone, but he’d only managed to grab ingredients the first day. The next day saw him losing track of time and missing practice as he worked. And he would have probably kept working all day, except Coran called them all to the lounge and-

 

And Keith was back.

 

Sitting in his dark room, Lance pressed his palms to his eyes and groaned. Keith was back! Just in time for Valentine’s Day! Was it a sign? A coincidence? Now Lance had to make something for him too! But it couldn’t be just anything! Keith couldn’t just get a dorky card like everyone else! His had to be- Well it had to be special!

 

He blushed in the dark and tried to stamp out the heat from his cheeks with his fingers. It didn’t work. He’d managed not to make a fool of himself in front of Keith earlier – well no more than usual – but he was sure everyone was suspicious of his sudden exit for bed. That was so stupid! Why had he done that?!

 

He played with the paper strips he’d cut earlier, curling them and stapling them and curling them and stapling them.

 

Stupid question. He’d escaped to finish everyone’s cards. Duh! But now he had to make something for Keith. Something for Keith. Something for- Argh! He just didn’t know! If he made a card, he’d hate himself for being lame and not getting Keith something special. But if he gave Keith something different, then EVERYONE WOULD KNOW and he’d be embarrassed for the next deca-phoeb!

 

Curl. Staple. Curl. Staple. His fingers lost track of what they were doing, running on auto-pilot while Lance frayed at the edges.

 

“Stupid, stupid, Lance,” he mumbled to himself, staring at the wall as though everything could be blamed on that particular section of paneling. “If you didn’t have a stupid crush, then you wouldn’t have a stupid problem, Stupid. Just make him a card, like everyone else. What’s he gonna do? Complain?”

 

His fingers paused as he imagined handing out the cards tomorrow. Then he grit his teeth and resumed his curling and stapler clicking. Why? Because hell yeah Keith would complain! Lance could see it all playing out – handing Keith a last minute made card and his stupid handsome face going blank and his stupid attractive mouth going ‘you made cards?’ like it was the dumbest shit he’d ever heard!

 

Sighing, Lance relaxed and leaned back on his bed. He was almost out of scrap paper, but he kept curling anyway, not really thinking about it.

 

No. Keith wouldn’t do that. He’d thank Lance for the card, just like the others. He’d probably even smile. But then he’d leave back to those Mamoo-Mamoh- Marmora people, and Lance would be left in the castle, wishing he’d told Keith the truth.

 

Because the truth was that he missed Keith. Every day. And not the way the other’s did. He missed fighting with Keith and laughing with Keith and watching Keith do those things with other people. He just missed him so much. It was a constant ache in his chest that he covered up with jokes and puns and shameless flirtation with anything that gave him the time of day. Hell, he’d flirted with the food goo processor the other morning just because it had worked the first time he’d tried.

 

But he didn’t want to flirt with other people. He wanted to flirt with Keith. He wanted to watch Keith totally miss the flirtation, like he always did, and think Lance was just making a stupid joke. And he wanted to watch when Keith might finally – FINALLY – understand what Lance was really trying to do.

 

He grabbed a pen off the floor and his last substantial shred of scrap paper. Angrily, he scribbled out some sloppy words.

 

“I love you, you jerk,” he growled lowly, staring down at his handiwork. Then he curled that paper too and snapped it shut with the stapler.

 

He glanced down at his art supplies and a cold feeling hit him in the stomach. Shit! He’d- He’d used all the paper up! How?! His eyes trailed from the last strip he’d stapled in his hand, then down to the floor and around the room. The floor was covered in a long, long paper chain. All the remaining paper had been strips and he’d linked them all together without thinking!

 

“Shit!” he exclaimed, jumping to his feet. “No! No, no, no, no, n-“

 

He dropped to his knees, pushing the chain out of the way to search for any paper he hadn’t ruined, but all he had were the cards for everyone else, some remaining glitter and knickknacks, and a ridiculously long paper chain. A whine eased out of Lance like a creaking door.

 

Now what was he supposed to do?! He glanced at the clock and saw that he’d spent all night worrying about what to do for Keith, and simultaneously sabotaging himself, and soon everyone would be up for breakfast. He flopped onto his bed and rolled back and forth, covering his head.

 

“Stupid!”

\-- -- --

 

The last of his concealer stick was used to cover up how tired he was when he walked into breakfast. Despite being up all night, he was the last to arrive in the kitchen.

 

“Morning, my fellow Earth-loving compatriots!” he declared as he entered the room.

 

“Here it comes,” Pidge said, rolling her eyes, but her voice was fond.

 

Keith and Pidge were sitting at the table, but Shiro was standing at the counter and Hunk was portioning everyone out some kind of omelet wannabes. Lance walked up to the table, purposely not glancing at Keith, and slapped his cards onto the table.

 

“Happy Valentine’s Day!” he cheered. “Some of you may be unaware, but Pidge here did the math and today’s the day! I made everyone cards. You don’t have to thank me.” But he said it in a way that clearly showed he expected some kind of praise for his efforts.

 

Hunk almost dropped his orange and flowery oven mitts. He gasped loudly and hurried over to the stack, looking for one with his name on it. He let out a triumphant sound as he snatched his up. It was green and yellow and sparkled with gold foil bits. Across the front it declared Hunk’s name in large, cut-out letters. Giddy with excitement, he opened the card, and a small figure sprang up, throwing glitter in Hunk’s face.

 

The larger paladin was silent for a moment, staring at the itty-bitty humanoid figure that had thrown something at him. Beneath the figure, the card exclaimed a bright ‘Happy Valentine’s Day to the Best Friend in the Universe!’ Hunk squinted down at the words and then he grinned, shaking his head to remove some of the sparkles.

 

“Oh my gosh. Lance. This is the best valentine I’ve ever gotten. Thank you!” He closed the card, wiped his face off with his hand, and then gave his best friend a high-five. Lance cheered at first before realizing he had a new wave of glitter on his hand now. He scowled slightly and tried to shake the bits off, but everyone knows glitter is til-death-do-you-part. Or at least until a shower.

 

Pidge and Shiro were more careful about opening theirs, wary of more glitter bombs, but Lance had only put that much effort into Hunk’s. The others were safe. Shiro got a pop-up scene of a little family, meant to represent the team, surrounded by the words ‘You gave us all a family we never knew we needed. Love you, Space-Dad.’ He looked embarrassed at the words, but he hid it by crushing Lance in an embrace so no one could see his face.

 

Pidge’s card had a pop-up Voltron and a little Rover. She smiled at the Rover, still missing her little robot companion after all this time. Her card read ‘Happy Valentine’s Day to the one who keeps us going up-up-and away!’ He’d debated writing ‘to the best techno-dweeb’, but he’d changed his mind when he considered how upset that would probably make her. He wanted to be endearing, not antagonistic.

 

“Thanks, Lance. That’s really cool. I didn’t know you had skills like these,” she said, carefully closing the card.

 

“My family was always big on hand-made gifts,” Lance explained proudly. “It became a competition.”

 

“So you’re saying your family was big on competition, then,” Keith corrected, leaning forward on the table and smirking.

 

Lance bristled. “No! Listen! My fam-!”

 

“Where’s mine?”

 

With those two words, Keith effectively stopped Lance’s meltdown. The darker-skinned paladin frowned and picked up the cards for Coran and Allura, fidgeting with them. It was hard to meet Keith’s gaze, knowing he’d utterly failed to do anything for him for Valentine’s Day – special or not.

 

“Listen, I didn’t know you were coming, alright?” He finally looked up at Keith and felt his stomach drop. Keith was frowning, but not in his usual serious way. He looked honestly disappointed that Lance had left him out. “You’ll just- You’ll have to wait until later. Yours isn’t done yet.”

 

It was a lie. Lance had no more supplies. But it made Keith stop frowning. He smiled gently.

 

“Okay. I look forward to it.”

 

Heat rushed to Lance’s face. He was embarrassed. He was ashamed. He was enamored. Keith was on his best behavior or something, because he had never been this mellow before, right? He was acting like- like Shiro. He was being understanding and calm. W-Wow.

 

“I- I gotta go find Allura and Coran and give them theirs. I’ll find you guys later,” he rushed out, backing up from the table. His eyes were stuck on Keith. Shit. Keith was starting to look concerned. He could totally see the blush, couldn’t he? Keith started to stand. Lance stalled him by raising his hand. “Bye!”

 

Then Lance escaped from the room before the reason for his flustered state could be questioned. He was dodging the issue, running away like a coward, but he didn’t know what else to do. Keith’s sudden appearance back at the castle on the holiday of love?! It was too much for Lance to process. It was like the universe was telling him to confess.

 

He ran into Allura in the hallway on his way to the bridge. She was in her dress, not her paladin armor, and she smiled when she saw him.

 

“Happy Day of Valentines, Lance,” she greeted.

 

“Close enough,” he said. “Wait, how did you know today was Valentine’s Day? You’re not even from Earth.”

 

“Pidge told me,” she said, clasping her hands before her. She gave an almost teasing smile. “And then Shiro explained it more thoroughly. You know how Pidge can be.”

 

He laughed and ran a hand over his short hair. “Yeah, I bet it sounded kinda harsh from her, huh?” Something crinkled lightly in his other hand and he jolted, remembering the cards. “Oh! Here. These are for you and Coran.”

 

He handed the cards over, and Allura’s face lit up with excitement. Her very first Valentine’s Day card. Hers was white with little hearts all over it. When she opened it, nothing popped out. Instead, Lance had hand written a message. ‘Valentine’s Day is meant to be shared with family and friends, with people you love. Happy Valentine’s Day to the Mother of Lions.’ In the bottom corner he’d drawn himself making a kissy face. Next to that it read ‘Sexy Mama’.

 

Allura laughed and closed the card. “Thank you, Lance. I’ll keep it safe.” To prove her point, she gently slid her card beside Coran’s and held them away from her body so they wouldn’t get rumpled. “Did you give one to everyone else as well?”

 

“Uh- yeah. Yeah, I did.” Lance rubbed the back of his neck nervously. “Well, I mean, not Keith. I-I sort of messed up and don’t have one for him.”

 

“You still have time. We’re in a peaceful tangent of space, and he’s not due to leave today. Perhaps you can still rough something together, or however you say it.” Her smile was genuine and encouraging. “Coran and I have found a planet to dock at later today for you all to relax and celebrate the day on, so you’ll have a golden opportunity to give one to him then.”

 

They’d searched out a relaxing Valentine’s Day spot for them? Lance felt emotion well up in him and he pressed a hand to his chest.

 

“That. Is so sweet of you, Allura. Thank you.”

 

Allura barely understood the custom and Lance was sure Coran was blowing it up far more than it deserved, but still they had taken the time to find a vacation spot. It was a family date night, and Lance was beyond touched and excited. She placed her hand on his shoulder and smiled.

 

“The holiday seemed important to you. I didn’t want to waste the chance to experience it together.” She blushed then and dropped her hand. “Not like a couple, mind you. But as a family.” Clearing her throat, she stopped herself. “You know what I mean.”

 

“Yeah.” Lance’s face was pulled into a smile that barely contained his laughter. She was so cute and funny when she got flustered.

 

Unbidden, Keith came to mind – the way he got all red-faced and loud when he was embarrassed. An ache sprang up in Lance’s chest. He needed to get a gift for Keith. Somehow. And maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if he maybe confessed at least a little bit about his feelings… maybe. After all, Keith didn’t live on the ship anymore. It wasn’t like he could avoid Lance anymore than he already did.

 

“I gotta go. I have to figure out what to do for Keith, ‘cause I ran out of paper.” He waved slightly and started walking away down the hall, back the way he’d come.

 

Her voice stopped him. “Don’t worry, Lance. I’m sure he’ll love it, no matter what you give him.”

 

He frowned, but she was behind him and couldn’t see. “Yeah,” he agreed softly. Then he kept walking. Keith would probably accept a gift, but Lance was more worried about him accepting the words Lance had to say with it.

\-- -- --

 

Lance searched the ship for something he could make for Keith, but there wasn’t much he knew how to work with. He found paper, but it was plain white and he’d run out of scraps to work with to make plain paper cool – so aside from covering the whole thing in glitter, he had no ideas. And he was pretty sure everyone, not just Keith, would hate a glitter covered card. It would get literally everywhere.

 

He still had most of the spare pieces of junk in his room that he’d found the day before. He’d only used them to make little springs, after all. But what could he make with a bunch of junk? Opening the last drawer in the supply room, he considered his options. There was some string in the drawer – a lot of it actually. Maybe he could…

 

An idea came to him then and he snatched up all the string. The whole point of Valentine’s Day was to show your love, to confess if they didn’t know already, and to go the extra mile. Well wasn’t it? Lance had never shied away from expressing himself before, so he shouldn’t start now. And he’d always been about grand gestures too, so obviously he had to stick to that or Keith would think he was lying or joking, and honestly he didn’t know which was worse.

 

Back in his room, Lance grabbed a wood object from the floor. It looked similar to, but definitely wasn’t, an old-school spool for thread. It was thinner in the middle and had two thick ends, perfect for holding the string Lance had found. The ends were different shapes, but so long as they didn’t let the string slide off, Lance could live with the imperfection.

 

He had one tiny piece of paper left, barely big enough to write on. He picked it up from the pile of trash he’d made earlier and scribbled ‘Follow me’ on it. Then he poked a hole in one side and strung the string through it. Securing the string to the not-spool, he looped and looped and looped until the string was almost completely wrapped around it, holding the paper pinned within.

 

His paper chain was still there, thrown in a pile on the floor. He grabbed it now, cutting a tiny hole in the first link and securing the end of the string to it. The chain itself wasn’t nearly long enough for what Lance had planned.

 

Pulling out multiple colors of pens, Lance began to draw hearts and arrows and balloons on the links in his paper chain, switching colors as the paper changed. When he reached the last chain, he saw the words he’d written that morning staring out at him.

 

 ‘I love you, You Jerk’

 

Well it wasn’t the most romantic thing he could have written, but he’d been kind of upset at the time. Oh well. He couldn’t change it now. Well he could rip that link off, but… nah.

 

He peeked out of his room, but he saw and heard no one. Good. Gathering the chain link in his arms, he began to shuffle out of the room and cursed when he made a rustling sound from all the paper. At this rate someone would hear him, and he’d barely left his room!

 

The speakers in the ceiling came to life without the slightest hint of crackle or start up. “Paladins! And, erm, guests!” Coran’s voice boomed. “We’ve arrived at the planet Zaro! Home to the Zref. If you’ll meet me in the entrance hall, we can start this holiday with a bang! Except not literally, because that would be counterintuitive to the point. The point! Is to relax! Bring your swim suits, and meet in the hall!”

 

“Perfect timing, Coran,” Lance said, grinning. Now the halls would be empty.

 

He quickly scurried down the corridor, paper chain shuffling all the way. He’d had to set things up quickly if he didn’t want to draw everyone’s attention by being late.

\-- -- -- --

 

Zaro was a balmy planet covered in beaches. The Zref were peaceful and reminded Lance of islanders back on Earth. Zarkon’s soldiers hadn’t destroyed Zaro for the most part. It seemed most soldiers who even came to the planet came to vacation, not wreak havoc.

 

“Even Zarkon’s forces wanted somewhere to relax,” their guide explained, leading them to the beach.

 

They spread out on an empty stretch of bright, purple sand and looked out over the ocean. Water was water – clear and supporting life, but on Zaro the sand was all shades of purple, and the ocean came out looking almost black because of it.

 

“I can see why the Galra like this place,” Keith said, crouching in the sand and running his fingers over it. “It’s like their favorite color.”

 

“Yeah, purple’s not bad. I used to like it too,” Lance mused, sounding bored. “You know, until a bunch of purple cat bat aliens tried to kill me.”

 

Frowning, Keith tossed a small handful of sand toward Lance. It caught him in the leg. “You know the Blades are Galran too.”

 

“Yeah and so are you,” Lance said, kicking sand toward Keith. He smirked. “Whatcha tryna say?” The sand caught on Keith’s pants and rolled slowly down his leg. The sight made Lance grin and he laughed. “Hey, Keith. If we bury you in the sand, you’ll really look Galran.”

 

Lance meant it as a joke but Keith just scowled. “Hysterical, Lance.”

 

“Hey. I was just joking.” He frowned back. Great. Wonderful start to a relaxing Valentine’s Day.

 

They let the subject drop, and a few moments later. None of them were keen to swim in the black waves, so they hung out on the beach instead. They built sand castles and Shiro judged them for a winner – Hunk won hands down. Then they borrowed a ball and played a little beach soccer. Keith tackled Lance to get the ball away from him near the end, and then it was more a game of keep-away.

 

Lance had a blast, and Keith was laughing with him by the end, so he assumed his Galra comment from before had been forgiven. They were all covered in the purple sand, which stuck to their sweat just like Earth sand. Keith looked more than a little gorgeous, and Lance almost told him as much.

 

“Dude, you’re glistening,” he’d actually said before smacking a hand over his mouth.

 

Keith glanced down at his chest and arms, shining purple in the sun, and raised a confused eyebrow. “Uh… thanks? So are you?”

 

Crisis averted. Thank goodness. Or not?

 

They stopped by the resort building on the way back to the ship, and the Zref pulled them aside for food. They absolutely could not leave without sampling the local specialties, they declared. So they ate something Pidge explained was very similar to a lobster, “or some other kind of shellfish,” she said.

 

“Whatever it is, it’s way better than the food goo,” Lance said, slurping some down.

 

Shiro swallowed some of his and motioned to Keith. “How’s the food with the Marmora?”

 

Everyone’s eyes turned to Keith and he ducked his head, embarrassed. “It’s alright. Not much different than the food goo, I guess. They eat like soldiers, so there’s a lot of Galra-style military rations.” He glanced around at all the eyes watching him, and Lance fooled himself into thinking their eyes locked for a significant moment. “But this is much better.”

 

They all agreed with that and dug in to their meals. Lance was still licking his fork clean when the others got up to leave. Keith pat him on the shoulder to urge him into following them, and he did – only a little sad about not getting one more plate. The food was delicious, but as he turned away from the table, Lance’s mind was occupied with a larger issue.

 

They were heading back to the castle. Keith would get his Valentine’s gift. His heart pounded in his chest and he felt heat rush back into his face.

 

“Alright there, Lance?” Shiro asked. Allura was the first to step back through the castle doors, chatting animatedly with Pidge about how they needed to celebrate more Earthen holidays together. Behind them were Coran and Hunk, discussing upgrades to the food goo machine. Keith had been walking even with Shiro, but now he was several steps ahead as Shiro slowed to walk with Lance. “Your face looks red. Did you get too much sun?”

 

“Me? Nope. I’m fine and dandy.” Lance rubbed at his face and smiled. “See? Never better!”

 

He hadn’t rubbed away the redness, but his energetic answer seemed to convince Shiro. They walked back into the ship, all of them dropping sand with each step. Coran ordered them all to the showers immediately so they would stop defiling his pristine hallways, and pleasantly threatened them with having to clean it all up if any of them didn’t do as told.

 

That had them all scurrying away to their rooms. No one wanted to mop the ship’s hallways. No one.

 

Lance and Keith ran most of the way together, their rooms being close by each other, and Lance was so focused on getting to the shower that he actually forgot about his set up. Keith slowed his pace, staring at the wall near his door. Lance hesitated too when he saw the length of string – waiting patiently for someone to find it.

 

The not-spool was hooked around a railing near Keith’s room. The paler paladin walked over to it and lifted the small item into his hand. The note saying ‘Follow me!’ slid slightly down the string, but Keith caught it in his other hand to read it.

 

Glancing back at Lance, Keith’s expression asked several questions, but the one that came out of his mouth was, “Is this-?”

 

“Happy Valentine’s Day?” Lance offered as explanation and smiled nervously. Then he beckoned for Keith to follow the string as ordered.

 

“Okay, but if Coran catches us, I’m not cleaning the floor with you.” He said that, but Lance knew he was lying.

 

Holding the not-spool, Keith began to walk. As he did, he tried to collect the string in a somewhat organized manner by wrapping it around his hand. He clearly didn’t realize how much string there was going to be. Halfway to Lance’s room, the paper chain started, its bright colors standing out from the white, metallic walls.

 

Keith paused with the first link in his hand, staring down at the artwork. There were words written in among the doodles, one on each link. Keith started walking very slowly, lifting each link to read the next word, and Lance shuffled anxiously behind him. His heart pounded harder with each new link collected, and he was sure he’d pass out before they got to the end.

 

‘Happy. Valentine’s. Day. Your. Gift. Is. At. The. End. Of. The. Chain. Lucky. Mullet. Brain. But. Before. You. Reach. The. End. I. Have. To. Tell. You. The. Truth. As. Your. Friend. I. Used. All. My. Paper. To. Say. Today. Of. All. Days. Because. Today. Is. The. Day. It. Might. Work. I. Don’t. Like. You. As. A. Friend.’

 

Keith’s brow knit together, a bitter expression on his face, as he saw two links with nothing written. Then he grabbed up the last one, taped to the railing outside Lance’s room.

 

‘I love you, You Jerk.’

 

While Keith read it, Lance scurried around him and stood by his door. It slid open at his proximity, but he didn’t go inside. He watched the bitter expression melt out of Keith’s features. An amazing kind of awe replaced it that made Lance’s stomach knot in beautiful ways.

 

Keith’s eyes shot up to Lance’s, and he swallowed thickly. This was the moment of truth, wasn’t it? Lance swallowed his nerves down too.

 

“So-,” Keith managed after a moment. “Where-“ He cleared his throat. “Where’s my gift?”

 

Lance smiled his nervous smile and held out his arms. “Tada!” Then he motioned to himself. “It’s me! You know- I mean- That is- If you want me, of course. I’m not forcing this shit on you.”

 

He said it all with that same upbeat confidence he had when flirting with Allura, but he was mostly faking it this time. Keith was silent for a long moment, and Lance felt himself begin to sweat. The ex-paladin’s eyes were intense and focused completely on Lance, his pupils wider than normal. It was like he was trying to solve a puzzle, but hadn’t Lance just given him the answer?

 

“Fine,” Lance said, lowering his arms. His chest felt crushed, but he tried not to show it. “Don’t worry about it, man. Just- Look, just give me the chain and I’ll throw it away, okay? You don’t gotta try to burn my face off with your eyes. I get it. You don’t like the gift.”

 

He reached for the paper, but Keith moved it away from his trembling fingers. When had he started to shake? Before or after he felt his heart break? He pulled his hands back, hiding them in his armpits, and looked away. God, he was so embarrassed. And they were both still standing there, shirtless and covered in purple sand. He must look ridiculous!

 

The paper chain dropped, dangling from Keith’s arm, and then Keith’s hands were on his face. The string was still wrapped around the middle of his left hand, and it felt scratchy on Lance’s skin, but he was more focused on how close Keith’s face was.

 

“What?” he asked, frustrated with himself.

 

“I love my gift,” Keith said, and then he leaned forward and kissed Lance.

 

Lance tensed, his hands still stuck in his armpits. Keith didn’t pull back, kissing him a second time. That time, Lance’s eyes slid closed. The third kiss had his shoulders relaxing, his hands dropping. Then he was dragging his fingers through the hair on Keith’s neck and instigating the fourth kiss.

 

Holy shit! This was really happening! Lance’s stupid paper chain confession had actually worked! He smiled into the kiss and chased Keith’s lips when the other finally pulled away.

 

“I didn’t know if you were joking,” Keith admitted, finding the last paper link and holding it up. “I had to make sure.”

 

“Yeah you did,” Lance agreed, grinning wider. “Do I pass the test?”

 

Keith shrugged. “For now, I guess.” But he was smiling too. He let Lance kiss him again, which was the coolest thing to happen to Lance in weeks – only beaten by the time he got to ride a solar wave last month.

 

Keith laughed softly when that kiss ended and nudged Lance to get him back into his room. The lights inside flickered on as they entered and Keith instantly took notice of the pile of leftover craft supplies on the desk. He smiled, picking up another not-spool for a moment before setting it back down.

 

“I didn’t get a card,” he said. The paper chain and string dropped back to Lance’s floor, almost like he’d never set them up.

 

“Yeah. I accidentally made a sixty link long paper chain instead, so I didn’t have any paper left. Sorry.” He ran his fingers through his own hair and blushed. “Anyway, it’s really your fault for showing up out of nowhere the day before Valentine’s Day. Like what’s up with that?”

 

Confused, Keith’s brow knit and he tilted his head slightly. “What are you talking about? Pidge told me it was Valentine’s Day and that I should convince the Blades to let me come. We decided to make the trip sound official so they’d actually let me do it.”

 

Lance’s jaw dropped. “Pidge _knew_ you were coming?!” he shouted. “Why didn’t she warn me?!”

 

Now Keith was blushing, the color obvious on his pale skin. “Well- She said it would be a good time to- to tell everyone how I felt. I guess she thought the surprise would make everything come out more… naturally?”

 

“Naturally? Did you all have some kind of powwow while I was making cards and chains, and talk about your feelings? Man, I feel so left out!” Lance whined and slumped where he stood.

 

Keith bristled. “No! You idiot! I meant-!” His voice was angry but his face was even more embarrassed than before. “I meant I came back to tell _you_ how I felt! The others are like family, for goodness sake! It’s just you that I-!” He choked on the words.

 

Lance was not as dim as everyone believed him to be, and he definitely didn’t miss the point as often as Keith, so it was not a surprise to either of them that Lance caught on to what Keith couldn’t say. Lance’s face went slack, then a victorious smirk crawled into place. He leaned closer to Keith.

 

“It’s just me that you… what?” he prompted. When Keith said nothing, he motioned to himself. “You wanna hug all over this?” Keith pressed his lips tight. “You wanna kiss all over this?” Now he covered his face with his hand, too embarrassed to function. Lance smirked wider. “You can say it, Keith. You. Love. Me.”

 

He was preening and he knew it, but it was also so worth it. But he was gloating so bad that he almost missed the fact that Keith responded. It was mumbled, spoken into his hand, so Lance couldn’t understand it.

 

“What was that?” he asked, curiosity beating out pride. He leaned down so he could look up at Keith under his hair.

 

“I… do,” Keith repeated, lowering his hand slightly. He was so red – just like his old pilot suit. “I love you. Stupid.”

 

For a moment, Lance let the words hang in the air. He soaked them in like his morning face lotion and felt rejuvenated. He smiled kindly and grabbed Keith’s face.

 

“Don’t be embarrassed, Keith,” he said, the slightest hint of a tease in his tone. “I already confessed, remember? Now we’re even.” And he lightly hit Keith in the chest with the back of his hand – a friendly gesture.

 

Only his skin hit skin, and he remembered they were both shirtless. Now it was his turn to flush red, though it was less obvious on his tanned skin. He rapidly withdrew his hands and rubbed the back of his neck anxiously.

 

“I-I mean- Damn, we’re getting sand all over my room.” He laughed nervously. “Forget the hallway. I have enough to clean up.”

 

Keith reached up and grabbed the hand from Lance’s neck, pulling it down between them and holding on tight. Their fingers laced together until they were properly holding hands. Lance bit his cheek to keep from making an embarrassing noise in response.

 

Then Keith, still red as a tomato, motioned toward the shower. “We should- We could-… Together, if you want.”

 

Maybe Keith was as unfamiliar with what happened now as Lance was, because they were both stuttering, blushing messes. But the idea of showering with Keith was most definitely appealing. It sounded embarrassing and awkward and funny and sexy all at the same time. Maybe not sexy the first time, but definitely all those other things.

 

Lance squeezed Keith’s hand and nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, we could do that.”

 

Keith nodded too and leaned in for another kiss. “Happy-“ He cleared his throat again. “Happy Valentine’s Day.” Lance had never loved a holiday more.

**Author's Note:**

> If the urge strikes you, you may draw fanart or translate this fic into your native language. I just ask that you give credit to/link back to the original. And please post a link to where I can find the new work so I can share it with others on the fic. ^_^


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